In the related art, substrate processing apparatuses are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-050436, Japanese Patent No. 5542818, and Japanese Patent No. 3696405. Such substrate processing apparatuses are chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatuses that flatly polish the surface of a substrate such as, for example, a silicon wafer, and is configured to perform a polishing process by brining the substrate into slide contact with a polishing pad while supplying slurry (polishing liquid) containing abrasive grains such as, for example, silica (SiO2) or ceria (CeO2) to the polishing pad.
The above-described polishing apparatuses include a polishing table (a substrate processing table) having a polishing pad, a top ring configured to hold a substrate, and a polishing liquid supply nozzle (nozzle) configured to supply a slurry (fluid) onto the polishing table. When a substrate is polished using such polishing apparatuses, a substrate is held by the top ring, slurry is supplied from the polishing liquid supply nozzle to the polishing pad, and the substrate is pressed against the surface (polishing surface) of the polishing pad with a predetermined pressure. Here, the polishing table and the top ring are rotated so that the substrate is brought into slide contact with the polishing surface, so that the surface of the substrate is polished into a flat and mirror-finished surface.